No Drum Set, No Problem
I recently helped a friend/colleague purchase a drum set for his son’s 9th birthday. During the process of helping him pick between acoustic and electric drum sets and then also brands and prices, it dawned on me how much a drum set can be a serious investment for a household. Space, sound, and money are all big considerations when purchasing a percussion instrument, especially a drum set. Trust me when I say that this notion did not just dawn on me only now after 25 years of playing percussion. It did make me think about the convenience of private access to an instrument and how I have spent a good portion of my life investing in instruments that I can use in my own home. With countless percussion and music students unable to have access to percussion instruments at schools throughout the country (and likely the world), it made me think about the possibilities of continuing to improve and learn when you don’t have access to an instrument as complex as a drum set.
Some of the ideas I have come up with, realistically, in no way replace having personal access to a drum set in your home, but there are things you can do to become a better musician and percussionist.
1. Active Listening
A lot of us have music playing while we do schoolwork, chores, drive, and cook, which is great. Music can make things that we may not want to do more enjoyable, but this is considered passive listening. Your main attention is on a bigger task at hand and you may not be fully paying attention to the music. I recommend that you sit down with your favorite album or new album that you have been meaning to listen to and just listen to the music. You may be surprised at all the things you notice or pick up on when you are really paying attention.
2. Transcribing
Ever wonder what a groove, fill, or solo looks like when it’s notated? It’s time you found out. Instead of googling what you’re curious about, why not try to figure it out on your own. There is a real skill when it comes to transcribing with a lot of benefits. Start off with something simple and work your way up to more difficult projects. I recommend using a mp3/digital version of what you are trying to learn so that you can easily listen to a specific spot over and over again. I also recommend a pencil and paper with music staff printed on it. This could make notating easier and faster than using notation software.
3. Make-shift Drum Set
I imagine plenty of you have stories of drumming on pots and pans while sitting on the kitchen floor as a young child. There is no reason why you can not resurrect some version of that in order to work on your coordination and independence. You can create any drum set or multi-percussion set up you want to satisfy your needs. Of course, don’t use anything that you are worried about damaging and don’t use anything that holds value to someone else in your house. An option is to use hard cover books (or a piece of wood) and shoes with the hardest soles you have for hi-hat and bass drum parts. A thick magazine acts as the snare drum, pillows act as the tom-toms, and cymbals can also be hard covered books. Replicating the actual sound and feel of a drum set is fairly impossible, but that’s not the goal. The goal is to create target practice with some variation in sound between the objects.
4. Coordination and Rhythmic Independence Exercises
Coordination and rhythmic independence are not solely for just drum set. They are skills that are important for any musician. Whether you want to make your own DIY drum set or not the next two resources are extremely helpful and, in my opinion, pretty fun, too.
“Shape Lessons” by Casey Cangelosi is a book of rhythm and coordination exercises. The title, “Shape Lessons,” refers to the manner in which you are instructed to set up instruments or found objects and play rhythms that juxtapose against one another. The book has lots of examples with varying degrees of difficulty. To see some examples, check out Casey Cangelosi’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqhHxVBFdcg&list=PLPaX7BPzSCbshvNU7fpyaG1Sd7H7anMyK
“Ritmica” by José Eduardo Gramani is arguably THE book when it comes to rhythmic independence studies and is very challenging. José Eduardo Gramani is a Brazilian composer (just so you know the book is also in Brazilian Portuguese, so download your google translator if you don’t speak the language) who wrote a whole book on rhythmic independence exercises for all musicians. Also, this book requires no instruments, which could come in handy. There are many variations in which you can use the exercises in this book, but your median goal is to be able to execute each exercise using three levels of independence: an ostinato, the melody (rhythm), and a conducting pattern of some sort. If you are interested in this book you can check it out at this link: https://kupdf.net/download/jose-eduardo-gramani-ritmicapdf_5976691adc0d606439043373_pdf
I hope this blog entry has been useful. If you have any questions, please contact me at fraley.percussion@gmail.com.
